Former Bastrop High and ULM basketball coach Mike Vining has been named as the Southland Conference Coach of the Decade for the 1990s.

As part of the league's 50th anniversary, the SLC released its All-Decade team for the '90s on Monday.

Vining coached the Northeast Louisiana University Indians (now the ULM Warhawks) to six Southland Conference regular season championships and five conference tournament titles in the '90s. ULM advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1996.

Nicholls State's Reggie Jackson (1991-95) was named Player of the Decade.

RANGER WHEELER: Former Bastrop High wide receiver and ROTC cadet B.J. Wheeler will graduate from U.S. Army Ranger school in Ft. Benning, Ga. on Friday.

Wheeler is a graduate of Southern University.

HOME COOKING: Bastrop High track coach Sedarrin Freeman will return to his alma mater when the Rams compete in the Eagle Relays at Tatum (Texas) High School on Saturday, March 23.

Upon leaving Tatum, 'Coach Free' went on to attend Arkansas-Pine Bluff on a football scholarship as a guard.

SHARNICE BROOKS has played in 26 of ULM's 29 games this season. Playing an average of 7.4 minutes, the former Bastrop Lady Rams' season line shows 2.6 points and 1.4 rebounds per game. She is second on the team with 23 blocked shots.

ULM will play Florida Atlantic on Friday at noon in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

On the men's side of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament bracket, the Warhawks are matched against Western Kentucky on Friday at 8 p.m.

Both the men's and women's tournaments are being played in Hot Springs, Ark.

EARLY SIGNEE: Sterlington center fielder Taylor Lockwood has committed to LSU-Shreveport and plans to sign with the Pilots on Wednesday morning in the school library.

A 4.0 student, Lockwood has played all three outfield positions during his career with the Panthers. He was also a three-year starter in football as a quarterback and running back.